Love My Library Essay Contest

The Cedar Rapids Public Library is holding an essay contest in anticipation of the new library groundbreaking celebration on May 5. The essay contest, entitled “Love my Library” is open to all 6 – 12 grade students in the Cedar Rapids metro area.

Students are asked to write an essay about what the Cedar Rapids Public Library means to them and why they love their library.

Essays should be 300 words or less. Submissions may be sent to the Library at 2600 Edgewood Rd. SW, Suite 330, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404; or emailed to info@crlibrary.org, no later than 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 25.  Submissions must include: name, age, grade, email address (if you have one), and phone number.

The winner will receive a Nook Color e-reader and will be asked to read their essay at the new library groundbreaking celebration in May. Runners up will also receive special recognition during the groundbreaking ceremony as well as a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Groundbreaking for the new Cedar Rapids Public Library is Saturday, May 5, 10 am – 12 pm. A brief program will be held at 10 am followed by refreshments and activities for the whole family. The community is invited to participate in this special event.

The Love My Library Essay Contest is sponsored by the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation.

April Book Club: City of Bones

Join Prairie High students and avid readers Gaby and Rachel as they lead a book discussion and eat snacks on Tuesday April 10th from 4:30-6:00 p.m. in the Sendak room. Sign up in advance to get a copy to keep  of the April book City of Bones by Cassandra Clare online here – or by calling the library at 398-5123 -  There are only a few books left so hurry up and register soon!  If you’ve already read the book, stop by to chat.

Stay after on Tuesday for pizza with our Teen Advisory Group from 6-7 in the same area, and find out about new volunteer opportunities, help plan for summer reading, and other fun stuff.

Spring Library Programs!

We have some exciting stuff going on at the Cedar Rapids Public Library at Westdale in the next few weeks and we hope you can stop by to check out some of our programs!

TUESDAY, March 20th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. is our monthly Anime Club meeting – this month we will plan for our Saturday March 24th Anime Club.  Sendak room.

THURSDAY, March  22nd from 5:30-7:00 p.m.  is Read. Write. Talk:  Hunger Games Challenge.  Do you have what it takes?  Compete in a physical, cornucopia, and trivia challenges for a chance to win prizes, including movie tickets to the midnight showing! Sendak room.

SATURDAY March 24th  from 12:00-4:00 p.m. – Anime Club:  Saturday Edition – Stop in on a Saturday to enjoy Anime, play Wii, eat candy sushi and ramen, participate in an art contest, work on paper crafts, cosplay, and more!  Sendak Room.

MONDAY – FRIDAY March 26th-30th from 2-3:30 p.m. Good Eats:  Cooking in the Library – Learn to make quick & easy snacks, participate in an Iron Chef challenge, enter a culinary contest and eat the results!  Meet in the Young Adult area.  Registration is available by calling the library at 398-5123 or online here.

TUESDAY, March 26th Teens Create:  Sharpie Tie Dye. – stop by between 4:30 and 6:00 in the Sendak Room to create a wearable piece of art.  We will provide you with a white t-shirt to tie dye with Sharpies.  Register for this one  over the phone at 398-5123 or online here.

SATURDAY, March 31st from 12:00-4:00 p.m. Join us for our 2nd annual Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii gaming tournament!  Come early to compete or stop by anytime to play X-Box Kinect, board games, or watch the action.  Sendak Room.

TAG Meeting Minutes 3/14/12

TAG Meeting Minutes
3/13/12
6:00-6:30 p.m.
CRPL Sendak Room

Members present:  Gaby, Seth and Rachel (all from Anime Club), Tanner,  and Maddie

New Manga + March Anime Clubs

ANIME CLUB NEWS

This month we have not one, but TWO Anime Clubs, and our very first on a Saturday.  If you are able to make it on Tuesday, March 20th from 5:30-7:30 p.m., come prepared to help plan our Saturday, March 24th from 12:00-4:00 p.m. event!

NEW MANGA

Our Anime Club and Teen Advisory Group members have been very helpful in suggesting new titles for our Manga section.  Here are a few new (to us) additions containing everything from killer puppets to scientific mysteries.  Enjoy!

Grand Guignol Orchestra

Grand Guignol Orchestra (人形(ギニョール)宮廷楽団^?, Guignol Kyūtei Gakudan) is a gothic horror manga series written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki (. The story is about a beautiful singer named Lucille and his orchestra who is invited to a town threatened by puppets that attack humans.

Princess Knight

Set in a medieval fairy-tale backdrop, Princess Knight is the tale of a young princess named Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne. Women have long been prevented from taking the throne, but Sapphire is not discouraged and instead she fully accepts the role, becoming a dashing hero(ine) that the populous is proud of.

A Certain Scientific Railgun

Meet Mikoto Misaka, the third most powerful Level 5 esper in Academy City. Together with her best friend Kuroko Shirai and the other members of Judgment, a student-run law enforcement agency, Mikoto delves deep into the dark heart of the scientific sprawl she calls home, and uncovers secrets she wishes she hadn’t!

Teens Create: Sweater Scarves

Do you like making new things out of old things and being creative?  Stop by the Sendak room  next Tuesday the 28th between 4:30-6:00 p.m. to construct scarves out of old sweaters! Sweaters will be provided but if you have a shrunken one you’d like to use, please bring it.  There will be snacks, and sweaters, and – EXCITING NEWS – we have finally have a working  a CD player/radio !  Register online here or by calling the library at  398-5123.

COLLAGE-A-THON!!!

Picture this:  It is next Tuesday, December 27th.  You are out of school and you are bored out of your mind.  You can sit around in your sweatpants, or you can wear your sweatpants down to the library and make some stuff with other people!

Tuesday, December 27th @ the Westdale Library

Join us from 4:30-6:00 in the Sendak room for our COLLAGE-A-THON, where you can collage your boredness away on jars, frames, cards, or possibly even the last giant Twilight cutout we have.  Register online here, at the library,  or by calling us at 319-398-5123.

Anime Club + Contest + New Manga ^_^

Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 20th from 5:30-7:30 at the Westdale Library for our monthly Anime Club!  All 6th-12th graders are welcome to stop by, eat Ramen noodles, watch Anime, and participate in our first ever clay creation contest.  The group will vote on the winners, and we have Viz Media tote bags and CRPL water bottles as prizes.   In September, we recorded a video of the club dancing and you can find that video on our Facebook page here.

In other Anime related news, we have been getting some new titles in, thanks to some help from Teen Advisory Group member Tanner!  I’ve included a few below – but they are flying off the shelf, so get in line for these by logging into your account on our catalog.

Maoh:  Juvenile Remix

Inukai and his team of vigilantes protect the citizens of Nekota from a rising crime wave and the greed of businessmen looking to modernize the city into a strip mall, but high school student Ando suspects Inukai’s motives.

Fairy Tail

Seventeen-year-old Lucy, mage-in-training, seeks to join a magicians guild and become a full-fledged magician. Her dream lies in the most famous guild in the worldFairy Tale. One day Lucy encounters Natsu, a boy raised by a Dragon who mysteriously abandoned him when he was young. Natsu has devoted his life to finding his Dragon father. When he helps Lucy out of a tricky situation, she discovers that he is a member of the Fairy Tail magicians guild, and our heroes adventure together begins.

Monster Hunter Orage

Shiki is on a mission to hunt down a legendary monster with his companion Ailee, a skilled huntress who would rather have nothing to do with the airheaded Shiki.

National Gaming Day 2011

Join us in the Sendak room this Saturday, November 12th for National Gaming Day!  The Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournament will start at 12:00.  Not into tournaments or Super Smash Bros. Brawl?  We have tons of other things going on as well.  What else, do you ask?  Here is a list:

• Super Smash Bros Tournament on the Wii with PRIZES
• Awesome board games donated by FamilyAndPartyGames.com
• X-Box Kinect Play
• Snacks
• Random drawings for door prizes

 

NaNoWriMo Starts Today!

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? It stands for National Novel Writing Month and it means that you could be an author by the end of November.  The goal is to write a 50,000 word or 175 page novel by November 30th at midnight.  If you love to write, this is an excellent opportunity to challenge yourself to finish a book!  Think 50,000 is waaay too much on top of all your homework, job, practices, and time spent at the library?  The Young Writer’s Program allows you to set your own word count here and decide how much you’d like to write.

If you’d like company while you write, you can stop by the Cedar Rapids Public Library at Westdale Mall on Wednesday nights from 5:30-8:30 to Come Write In and write with fellow area writers.  Westdale not your cup of tea?  The Cedar Rapids area has plenty of other places, dates, and times to Come Write In, so check them out here and get writing!